Vivid Dream
by otakuXmetalXstorm
Summary: Rainbow Dash performs a Sonic Rainboom by accident one morning. Her luck in the results of the move are considerably different than the past attempts.
1. Chapter 1

Vivid Dream.

Chapter One.

Can You Hear Me?

It was a few seconds into the race that she lost control. Her wings had overtaken her mind, and her body fell into the anarchy of the unsuppressed soul. Her mind racing in its attempts to get itself together, she began to wonder if she had finally achieved what she had always dreamed: the approval of a brutal peer group, the approval of the public, too absent-minded enough to realize her genius; and the approval of her family, simply too absent to realize her genius. A whisper in the darkness cries out "Father..." as the skin of her face begins to peel from pure gravitational force. She stared at the ground, feeling more powerful than she ever had, and began to accelerate even further. She had tried to reach this point before, but it was the incentive that struck her into this chaotic point, her nirvana. She felt the energy rising, and it happened. The burst. The moment fate had decided as the turning point. The crossroads in the lives of a group whose collected effect on the universe was considerably higher than they would ever expect; particularly this crossroads itself. The perpetrator, one Rainbow Dash of Cloudsdale, had just caused irreparable damage to the time-space continuum.

Our traveller had disappeared from the sky on one side, and entered another. It was exactly identical to the original in every way, except for the results of the strange Technicolor array she had unleashed in her speed. This gave the inspiration to a number of area ponies, who would later become friends. This universe, held together at the seams by optimism and coincidence, was likely the closest thing to a utopia of the hundreds of outcomes and futures that had been created at the moment of the explosion. Dash had the misfortune of discovering this today.

The sun was, as usual, bright and hanging in the sky, thanks to Celestia and the crack team of pegasi who cleared the clouds each morning (though Dash was herself part of that second group, but had taken the day off). Dash woke up, and floated across the cloud-floor of her home. She often wondered if the others were bitter about her having made her house specifically to avoid guests. Grabbing some breakfast, Dash quietly half-walked/half-flew out the door and looked over the town. Backwoods kind of place, not half worthy of her divine presence, she thought (not exactly in those terms), but familiar and cozy nonetheless. Dash was entirely unaware of the time, and passing the town hall she saw 3PM. Fairly normal for a day off on Dash's terms. She wandered, still partially floating as she was feeling lethargic enough to avoid leg use at all costs. Her wings were strong enough at this point that it became second nature to move fast enough that she was beyond vision, even having just woken up. She wandered into the northern woods, and heard a cry of distress. Dash's hair fell into its now-familiar position of flat across her neck in the back. She stopped at the edge of a cliff, where a clearly-distressed Fluttershy sat. "What is thi-" "No time to explain! Angel's hanging off the cliff! You have to get him! Please?", Fluttershy interrupted. Dash wasn't a coffee pony, and this was the perfect opportunity to get herself going. She jumped off the cliff, which was noticeably larger than it seemed from the edge. She was about fifty feet down when she lost total control. Already going well above her normal speed without trying, she began to move her wings. Her mind said no, but she couldn't control herself. She saw a white dot, and as she passed it, knocked it off its perch. She caught it, and tried to go back up, but the g-force was pounding down hard enough that she couldn't fight back. She was about to hit the sea, at which point, Fluttershy watched from her view above, Rainbow Dash had disappeared completely. Angel was sent flying, and Fluttershy was fortunately able to float a few feet down and catch him. Angel made some sounds. "Yeah, I know I owe you fifty bucks now...", Fluttershy mumbled.

Dash exploded out into a night sky over (what was now considerably larger than she had ever remembered) Ponyville. Gone was the old-fashioned architecture, replaced with concrete and Corinthian pillars. The farms and forests to either side paved over, replaced with suburbs. All was thoroughly slicked with rain. The explosion was the only bit of light around, beyond some artificial lights on the streets, lining them like the massive nests of pony activityy they were. The rain beat down on Dash's face and wings as she stared down, disturbed by what she saw around her. Suddenly, she saw a group of darkly-armored ponies on the ground below her, armed with gigantic steel shadows, at the ready and slicked by the rain. One lit up, and Dash saw an explosive fly past her, it bursting into flames next to her. She was put off balance, and her wings were burned by the airborne flames. Fortunately, the flames were put out before they started by the pounding rain. She held out her wings, unable to fly from the burns, and rode her remaining momentum into the night, hidden by darkness from the oncoming forces. She quickly crashed into a small concrete side-road, and sprinted into the first house she could find whose doors were unlocked. "Hello," said the brown-haired pony inside, "I've been looking for you for a while now." Dash was still terrified, and curled up on the ground by the pony's fireplace. She stared up at his hourglass cutie mark, and fell back down to hyperventilate.


	2. Chapter 2

Vivid Dream.

Chapter Two.

Changes.

Dash came out of her adrenaline-induced trance a few moments later. The other pony, still sitting there, looked down at her. "Who are you? What… is this?" Dash asked, getting a hold of her surroundings. "You can call me The Doctor. And this is the result of your careless time-space tomfoolery." the pony responded, shockingly serious in tone. "Wait, what? Dude, you're being really confusing. What am I saying? This entire day is confusing." The other pony stood there, stone-faced. The two traded glances for a second, Dash increasingly confused, the other pony increasingly close to making the realization that Dash has no idea what he's talking about. Dash made a quick umm-ish sound to try to get discussion going again, to be quickly swept up by the other pony, now pacing in the room. "I see… It's unintentional. That would certainly explain the strange carelessness of the occurrences…" Dash kept staring at him. "Please, could you just explain what's going on?" The other pony took a quick breath and began. "You know that cute little trick you do with the explosion?" Dash nodded, about to boast about the move, but was cut off. "Well, the reason for that burst of colors is that a section of the time-space continuum is slipping out each time you do it. Your speed breaks through both the barrier of sound and the barrier of time-space itself. Each time you perform this move, you land in a different universe. Fortunately, due to the alternate timeline theory, there are billions of universes near identical to the ones you've been living in due to small decisions you've made. I discovered you after the first occasion of your anomaly taking place, and have been trying to find you since. You see, I'm a fellow traveller of the outside areas of the continuum." Dash stared at him. The two traded glances of dead seriousness. Dash sighed, looked into his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "Woo! Yeah! I'm so good even the universe can't handle me!" The other pony stared at her. "Either way," he continued, "Your little games are changing universes. Are you familiar with the chaos theory?" Dash replied no, and the other pony continued, "Essentially, it's the thought that with a simple decision, you can change timelines severely. You, with your continuum jumping, have been making some radical differences in a lot of universes." "So…" Dash said, the thoughts of how she could use this to her advantage, "I've been making places like this the way they are? And how do I get back to my universe?" "Well, it's kind of a random, uncontrollable process. I travel only slightly less randomly than you do." Dash immediately popped in front of him, saying at a volume bordering upon shouting, "Alright! Let's do it!" "We should be getting out of here anyways. The police force is probably still looking for you. They probably saw you fall near here, and they're probably going to search this house." Dash's excitement was extinguished for a moment. "Oh, so that… wasn't a bad dream?" She grinned slightly, to give an air of "just-joking" to the whole thing, and sighed. "So, um, The Doctor, what can I do about that?" "Well," he responded, taking a quick moment to ponder, "I guess the only thing we could really do is get out of here via those space… thingies you do, or… That seems like the only real solution here, unfortunately." "Okay… Well, I figure that that cliff that brought me here is probably still there." "Even with erosion? It's been thirty years since your age, and this is an alternate timeline." "Maybe. We can try, am I right?"

The two moved towards the door. The Doctor looked at Dash before moving out and quickly blurted out, "By the way, some here call me Whooves, if you care terribly. Also, wear this." He handed Dash a hood, presumably to hide her face from the unknown police menace outside. The two walked down the claustrophobic concrete corridors that now made up the streets of bustling Ponyville. Whooves opened an umbrella to stop the pounding rain from over his head. Dash whispered to him, "So, how did things get this way?" Whooves looked around cautiously, pushed his head towards her hood, and whispered, "To put it as simply as possible, in this timeline, there was a civil war over control after the mysterious disappearance of Celestia. The sun went out because of her absence, putting a far higher strain on the Pegasus weather-controllers than they had ever had, so they went on strike with constant torrential downpours. About fifteen years from now in this timeline, the Pegasi rise as the most powerful class in Equestria. Anyway, the towns began to fall, taken in by booming metropolises, each run by different potential leaders. Ponyville was taken by a compatriot of yours, in fact." Dash stared off for a second, but was quickly absorbed into shock. "Who?" "The original next-to-the-throne, Twilight Sparkle." "What? She exists here? Does that mean I exist here?" "Yes. You're the heroic captain of one of the military units that helped keep Ponyville a police state for the last decade. You were a major part in decimating Blueblood's mercenaries." "Cool! Can I meet me?" "I don't think you realize the seriousness of the situation. Plus, remember that "chaos theory" thing I mentioned? Imagine the repercussions of the influence of an alternate-universe self! Hundreds of billions of universes just like this one would take form!" The two approached the city square, where the daily citizens' address was taking place. "Keep your hood low. Plenty of cops, plenty of ponies, and I think you're in one of those sniper's nests across the square." Dash's attention was immediately taken to herself, grizzled, considerably more monochromatic than her current incarnation, peering across the square with a high-caliber rifle prepared to strike down anyone who got in the way of the glorious Sparkle Empire. Dash was so taken with herself that her hood peeled back slightly as her head perked up. Whooves pushed it back down from behind. One of the head officers of the Sparkle administration, one Applejack Smith, stepped onto the stage. "Hello everyone. It's a great day in Ponyville. Today's biggest events: It is currently Day 9872 of the Pegasus weather strike. Our Great Leader Twilight Sparkle is making a diplomatic bid this evening in the area between Ponyville and Canterlot. Analysts are expecting confrontation. Also in events, here are today's list of ponies that are to be taken in, any help will be appreciated and met with a reward. A brown-coated, blonde-maned Earth pony, peace sign cutie mark. To be charged for vandalism and anti-government action. Also, a blue-coated, mane color unknown Pegasus pony, to be charged for the unauthorized use of airways between Ponyville and former Cloudsdale. As for today's events otherwise, there is a…" "_Former_ Cloudsdale? What are they talking about?" "Well, in the war, Cloudsdale attempted to stay neutral. Eventually, they were occupied by Pegasus brigades of each of the newly formed city-states, turning the city into an uneasy truce zone, not really controlled by anyone, so it doesn't really have an official political name." Dash was a little saddened to hear the fate of her hometown, and tried to listen back to Applejack, who at this point looked disturbingly like a yellow-coated version of Ponyville's past mayor. She couldn't, thinking about the dismal results of practically everything in this universe. "C'mon," she said, beginning to walk despite Whooves' lack of attention, "we're leaving here." Whooves looked back at Dash, and began to walk in an awkward, urgent fashion behind her. "You may want to move a bit faster." There were whispers around them, when in a single moment, the tone of the even changed completely. "Everybody! It's that Pegasus from earlier this afternoon!" Dash began moving at ridiculous speeds, nearly invisible in the midnight sky of 4PM in this universe's Ponyville. She guessed it would be around five minutes to the cliff if she kept up her speed, and if this timeline didn't lack the cliff. She heard Whooves shout "I'll find you in the next timeline! Go on your own!" Dash heard the firing of rifles and cannons behind her, and sped up even more, knowing she would need all the momentum she could going of the cliff this time around. She saw the cliff, still standing, yet somehow covered in the same bland concrete architecture that's covered the rest of the city. She disappeared off the edge of the cliff, a burst of light appearing behind her.


End file.
